Articles Posted inIn The News

The Fyre Festival meltdown continues — As seen in documentaries by Netflix and Hulu, the music festival fantasy-turned-frankenstein of rapper Ja Rule and young entrepreneur Billy McFarland has left scorching legal repercussions. Founder, fraud, and convicted felon Billy McFarland kept no accounting records regarding the millions of dollars spent in the months prior to the tropical catastrophe. So where exactly did all this money go?

In an effort to track down the $11.3 million paid out by McFarland, a bankruptcy judge has granted subpoenas for two modeling agencies which were involved in paid advertisement for the festival. The agencies in question, DNA Models and IMG Models, supplied the talent for the festival’s 2017 promotional video in the Bahamas. The supermodel cast included the likes of Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Baldwin, and others. Kendall Jenner personally faces her own subpoena after allegedly accepting a payment of $250,000 for one instagram post about Fyre Festival. According to Billboard, Messer has also asked to subpoena 16 companies involved with travel, staging, food, and beverage for the event, totaling $4.7 million in payments.

According to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) influencers and marketers are required by law to clearly disclose any “material connection” regarding their social media posts. Monetary payment, business or family relationships, and gift of free product all fall under the umbrella of material connection.

Flying to the Bahamas for what was advertised as an “experience of a lifetime” quickly became a disastrous and potentially dangerous situation — one that would be known as one of the greatest scams of the decade. The biggest takeaway from this PR nightmare? Things are not always as they seem.

The Fyre Festival, created by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja-Rule, had been heavily marketed through numerous social media channels and captivated millennials with lofty promises of famous attendees, gourmet food, unforgettable musical performances, top of the line accommodations- all taking place on a private island previously owned by Pablo Escobar. After paying upwards of $200,000 for tickets, guests flew out to Great Exuma, Bahamas to find a “refugee-like” environment filled with half-built hurricane tents, rain-soaked mattresses, no medical personnel, and barely any food to share amongst the guests. Even after Fyre Festival was cancelled, guests were left stranded at the airport without nourishment or even a way to get home.

Through documentaries like Netflix’s Fyre Festival: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, we are seeing first hand how aware the event’s organizers were of the poor and unsafe conditions on the island well before the attendees arrived. Their alleged negligence and fraud has lead to more than nine different lawsuits against the Fyre Festival organizers and promoters. This past July, Seth Crossno and Mark Thompson were these first to be awarded a settlement of $1.5 million each in compensatory damages, and $1 million in punitive damages for not only the tickets ($13,000) but for the mental anguish they suffered as well. With more class action lawsuits making their way through the justice system, this will not be last we hear of Fyre Festival.

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to promoting equality and hope. He was a cornerstone in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, inspiring peaceful protests and non-violent civil disobedience. Some of his efforts include leading the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1963 March on Washington, and becoming the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His words of tolerance and love resound through the ages. We’ve selected some of our favorite quotes from the man with a Dream.

MLK Quotes:

Everyone is talking about the latest Netflix original movie, Bird Box. (For those who have not seen it yet, don’t worry, we won’t release any spoilers.) In the film, the characters must navigate through the world while remaining blindfolded. The internet took this idea and ran with it, thus giving birth to “The Bird Box Challenge.” This meme is centered around performing everyday tasks all the while, you guessed it, remaining blindfolded. Unfortunately, one risky individual took this challenge to the streets.

Last week, a 17-year-old girl from Layton, Utah decided to try this challenge while driving. According to Layton police officer Lt. Travis Lyman, the young driver pulled her hat over her eyes to replicate the blindfold used in the movie. She then drifted into oncoming traffic where she hit another car. Thankfully, no one was injured in the crash.

One of the first things every driver should learn is to keep your eyes on the road. By throwing common sense to the wayside for the sake of “going viral,” she put herself, as well as everyone around her, at risk. Earning likes, comments, or shares should never threaten another person’s life. After this incident was made public, Netflix turned to Twitter with a message to their viewers:

BENTON, ARKANSAS — A charter bus carrying a youth football team crashed in the early hours of Monday morning. The team was from Tennessee, and had just played a championship game in Dallas this past weekend. On their homeward-bound commute at about 2:40 AM, the bus lost control and veered off of Interstate 30, where it rolled to a stop outside of Benton, Arkansas.

The tragic incident left one casualty and injured at least 45 others. The Saline County coroner identified the victim as 9-year-old Kameron Johnson. The majority of those injured were children, ages 8-10, accompanied by chaperones. The injured survivors were taken to hospitals in Little Rock and Benton, Arkansas.

The Tennessee charter bus company Scott Shuttle Service has had a clean record over the past two years with zero crashes. However, they received a penalty fine in July 2018 for a driver operating a truck without a proper license.

DEEP ELLUM— A simple Bird scooter ride almost cost one man without a leg. Arlington resident Alexander Forney, 21, was riding a Bird scooter in Deep Ellum this past August when he “tapped the brake a little too hard” which sent him sailing over the handlebars into the pavement.

A ride that should have only cost about one dollar turned into an almost 1 million dollar medical journey. Alexander’s face was covered in road rash, his tooth cracked, his tibia was broken in three places, and his knee was shattered into about 1,000 fragments. He describes it as “one of the most painful experiences of my whole life.” The damage was so extensive that doctors almost had to amputate his leg. Nine hours of surgery later, Alexander now lives with over a dozen metal rods in his left leg, arthritis, and nerve damage. To make light of an otherwise very dark situation, he got a tattoo of a broken scooter on his leg.

Alexander was the only person involved in the incident, so there is no opposing party to pay for his damages. Luckily, his insurance covered most of the medical expenses, leaving him to pay $10,000 out of pocket. Bird & Lime scooters require users to sign their arbitration agreements (digitally, through the app) before riding. This agreement ensures the companies’ limited liability, so no, you cannot sue them for crashing the scooter yourself.

The investigation continues in the Upstate New York limo crash, which resulted in 20 fatalities. On October 10, New York Police arrested Nauman Hussain, son of the owner of Prestige Limousine Chauffeur Service.

The owner of the Chauffeur Service has been contacted by State Police Major Patnaude and is currently in Pakistan. His son, Nauman, is the operator for Prestige, according to authorities.

Nauman Hussain has been charged with criminally negligent homicide. The lawyer representing Hussain claims he is innocent and plead not guilty in Schoharie Town Court. He posted bond at $150,000.

For most counties in Texas, students went back to school in August. Teachers, parents, and kids of all ages likely geared up for the summer to fall transition for weeks.

Returning to school not only means getting back in the classroom, but also the return to playgrounds, gymnasiums, forms of travel, and sports. While recess and extracurricular activities are often referred to as the “fun” part of school for many, they are also the setting for the potential of numerous accidents and injuries.

According to research conducted by the National SAFE KIDS Campaign (NSKC), an estimated 2.2 million children ages 14 and younger sustain school related injuries each year.

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